Chronicling the depravities of the State.
Well it’s Christmas Eve here and I thought I’d get ahead of my duty to wish everybody a merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays, or whatever the fuck you want me to say and not get all offended for wishing you well).
I’ll be bunkering down in south eastern Minnesota where Mother Nature is reminding us that Al Gore is full of shit.
This weekend there was a gun show at the River Center in St. Paul. It was done by the Minnesota Weapons Collectors Association who generally put on pretty good shows. And it was a pretty good show overall.
I was able to control myself so I didn’t walk away with a new gun but I did walk away with 1,000 pieces of .45 auto brass for a pretty reasonable price. When I go to the range I have no problem finding 9mm and .40 S&W brass but rarely do I find enough .45 auto brass to make much of a difference, hence I still have to buy a supply once in a while.
Handguns are obviously one of the big ticket items yet as I would estimate at least 60% of the guns there were handguns. There were the usual slew of Glocks, XDs, M&Ps, and snubby revolvers. As for rifles there was a ton of AR-15s. You couldn’t throw an anti-gunner without him hitting a rack of evil black rifles. Although I declared the AR-15 drought over before I can now officially say the drought turned into a flood.
Surprisingly there weren’t many AK-47s. There were plenty of M1 carbines but since those appear to be rather popular at the moment the price is high and the ammunition is non-existant. I will get an M1 carbine some day but I think it will wait until after my C&R license shows up and I can just nab one from the CMP.
I actually saw somebody selling primers. You must realize I showed up an hour after opening so seeing any primers remaining was rather shocking. The price tag of $40.00 per 1,000 didn’t surprise me at all but even at that price I know local shops have a hard time keeping stock. It’s nice to see things are starting to lighten up.
There were the usual assortment of space guns going for exorbitantly high prices. It still amazes me that guns made mostly of space plastic cost more than guns made of Earthly materials like metal cost so much more. I guess if you’re part of an elite space marines unit price isn’t an object when fighting off the denizens of alien worlds and parallel dimensions.
Overall it was a good show. It’s nice to finally realize I have a good enough assortment of firearms now that when I go to one of these large shows I don’t find much that trips my trigger. I was seriously considering a CZ 75B that somebody had for a good price but the fact I’d need to get reloading dies allowed my laziness to prevail over my want of a new gun.
Wow some people are fucking idiots. I present exhibit one here. I’m not going to say anything until you read this:
Timothy William Pollard, 37, and friend Robert Knorr, 28, were playing with the gun Sunday night after a full day of drinking. Pollard had about six beers, a couple shots at a bar and then another beer at home.
I bet you can guess where this is going:
Pollard had taken the handgun and pointed it at Knorr. Pollard told police he thought the safety was on as he pulled the trigger once and it just clicked, the Greeley Tribune reported. So he pulled the trigger again, shooting Knorr.
This should bring a couple points to bear. First booze and guns are not good bed fellows. If you want to drink leave the gun, if you want to carry the gun don’t drink (and before somebody says something this has nothing to do with being able to carry guns in places that serve booze, you should be allowed to do that so long as you don’t drink). The second point is you never, EVER, point a firearm at another individual unless it’s in self defense. The gun is always loaded, plain and simple (somebody is going to quote Gabe Suarez’s remark about two people verifying it’s empty, I don’t care the only safe bet is not to cover another person with your barrel ever).
And to top it all off these clowns are from my state.
OK last week I attended a speech by Christopher Monckton. The subject at hand was Al Gore’s apocalypse, a.k.a. global warming, a.k.a. climate change, a.k.a. CO2 is going to kill us all. Mr. Monckton presented a lot of great information and showed how those who are claiming CO2 is causing “global warming” (even though we’ve been in a cooling trend for a few years) have lied.
Here is the YouTube video of his presentation:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stij8sUybx0]
His slide show is also available from the link (you should follow that while watching the video). The treaty he talks bout at the end of the speech is also available from the link.
You know when it comes to groups I think us second amendment supporters can certainly take a title for one of the most fickle groups out there. We argue amongst ourselves at the drop of the hat. For instance there are long running battles in our group about what’s better the AR-15 or AK-47? what caliber is better for self defense the 9mm or the .45, and of course does open carrying help or hinder our movement?
Now don’t get me wrong I’m not complaining, I love arguments. Arguments are how things get decided and I’m proud to say I’m part of a movement that is willing to argue about topics in detail. The other side of the coin are those who use simple talking points and always agree with one another. Those people don’t get anything good accomplished because they never take other sides into consideration.
Well this weeks argument seems to be about open carrying. Rob Allen is all for it, Sebastian isn’t a fan, and Uncle is all for it but doesn’t believe it promotes the second amendment to others. Of course I’m nowhere near these three as far as the popularity of my blog (or lack thereof) but that’s never stopped me from chiming in when an good argument is afoot.
Let’s face it most peoples’ exposure to firearms is in a negative sense. For the average Joe the only time they are exposed to another individual carrying a gun outside of a range is when the gun is in their face during a mugging or robbery or when they are interacting with a police officer (and if you’re dealing with their gun it’s probably not a good thing either).
Due to this the default reaction of most people is negative when they see another person carrying a gun. If a majority of peoples’ exposure to other carrying firearms was positive I believe this default reaction would change. That’s also why I don’t believe open carrying alone is going to do anything, you need to do it well.
What I mean by that if you are open carrying as a method to change peoples’ minds be polite as possible, dress well, and besides the gun look as harmless as possible. If somebody approaches you and decided to confront you on your choice to carry a gun don’t get in their face. Explain in a calm and collected manner why you chose to carry a gun. Scream, “BECAUSE IT’S MY RIGHT!” isn’t going to accomplish anything. On the other hand explain how you carry a gun to protect yourself and your family will give the confronter nothing they want and hence they will most likely move on.
If you’re walking around carrying a gun openly make eye contact and politely nod to anybody you pass by. Say, “Hello” or “How are you doing?” Just be a nice person. If you want people to become accustom to firearms their exposure must be positive. That’s the key.
As I posted earlier there was a gun show on Saturday and Sunday. I decided to head there on Saturday morning with one of my shooting buddies and one of my co-workers. First I’m going to talk about my co-worker. He has never been to a gun show and his exposure to firearms, from my understanding, is limited to shotguns used for hunting. He wants to eventually get a permit to carry but has no experience with handguns.
Well I figured a gun show would be a great place to bring him up to speed on the different types of handguns. We showed him semi-automatic pistols and revolvers. We explained the differences in shooting a very tiny handgun vs. shooting a larger handgun. We explained the differences between calibers. Heck we tried to cover everything we could. I feel accomplished as he seemed to learn quite a bit and hopefully the experience motivated him to get his permit to purchase (required in Minnesota for purchasing pistols and military pattern semi-automatic rifles).
But the best part was showing him the lies the general media says about gun shows. Of course since he never attended a gun show before he had no experience but believed what CNN, MSNB, CBS, etc. said. My co-worker believed it was a place where you could walk up to any table, pay cash for a gun, and walk out without performing the background check and paperwork. He was surprised when I picked up a Glock 30 and showed him the process for purchasing a firearm. I had to fill out the ATF form, present my driver’s license and permit to carry, and of course go the NICS check performed. It was an eye opener for him and I firmly believe everybody who thinks gun shows are a major source of illegal arms should attend a show and watch the process people go through to get guns.
As for the shot itself there are some things to note. First of all the prices of AR-15s and AK-47s are coming down. They aren’t at the same point they were before the Obamessiah was elected but are getting closer. Also I’d like to note the huge number of both types of rifles at the show, the shortage is officially over here in Minnesota. The same can be said of ammunition which has slowly been returning. Most of the vendors had plenty of ammunition in stock for all the popular calibers. The only thing that was in short supply were primers which are slowly trickling back in.
There were some good deals to be had and some horrible ones. It was obvious once again that if you attend a gun show check every table before you buy anything (unless that thing is rare enough where you are legitimately worried somebody else will buy it and nobody else will probably have it). On one side of the gun show the Glock 30 I picked up was going for $100.00 more than where I got it from. They were both brand new and came only with the standard load out (two magazines).
There weren’t as many people walking around selling personal guns this time. Likewise the number of people in attendance was quite a drop from the earlier gun show held at the same location around the beginning of the year.
My friend tried to sell his AK in .223 but was unable to do so. If anybody out there is looking for a like new AK rifle that shoots .223, has a milled receiver, and comes with eight magazines let me know and I’ll put you in contact with him.
Hey just a heads up for those of you in Minnesota, specifically the Twin Cities area. There is a gun show at the Education building located on the State Fair grounds. It’s being done from the Minnesota Weapons Collectors Association.
It goes from 9:00 to 17:00 tomorrow and 9:00 until 15:00 on Sunday.
OK I have to post this immediately. I went to the student town hall meeting at the University of Minnesota campus. There representative Ron Paul was speaking and afterwards he did the rounds signing things. Here’s what I got him to sign:
Yes he signed my spare carry magazine which was loaded at the time. That’s how you test if a politician is pro-gun or not.
I’ll admit after voting against the Thune amendment my opinion of Al Franken went from bad to worse. Well Says Uncle pointed to a piece that has bumped up my opinion of Senator Franken. Apparently the man understands at least on piece of the constitution, amendment four. His words on the subject:
Noting that he received a copy of the Constitution when he was sworn in as a senator, he proceeded to read it to Kris, emphasizing this part: “no Warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
“That’s pretty explicit language,” noted Franken, asking Kris how the “roving wiretap” provision of the Patriot Act can meet that requirement if it doesn’t require the government to name its target.
Good on him. It’s a small hope but there is at least some hope that he’ll gain an similar understandings to the rest of the constitution. Either way I won’t vote for the man until he understands the second amendment, but I’m certainly going to give him kudos where they are due.
So I was reading the Star Tribune at work today and noticed a letter to the editor that didn’t make any sense. To give those of you outside of Minnesota some perspective the Star Tribune has to nick names, the Red Star and the Star and Sickle. They are a very “progressive” liberal leaning paper as are a majority of their readers. Well this letter made me realize people still don’t get the reason behind the second amendment:
Earlier this month, Josh Hendrickson brought two concealed guns to the Obama rally in Minneapolis, apparently to make a point about the Second Amendment. Other than being dressed in army fatigues and packing a .40 caliber Glock 22 gun and a Kel Tec 380 gun, he was just another (self-described) laid-back guy who loves kids and his country right? Really? When there’s already a conceal-and-carry law, what’s the point?
This type of behavior is yet another example of the extreme lengths the hard-core gun-rights activists seem committed to in the interest of furthering their cause. I’m a hunter and have been for the last 45 years. I am also a supporter of gun rights. It’s precisely this type of extremist behavior that tends to undermine our future as hunters.
As a hunter, I feel it’s important to make a distinction between the more extreme side of the gun-rights lobby that supports such things as assault rifles, conceal-and-carry laws, etc., from the right to bear arms for hunting. There’s a more effective, less extreme approach to the gun-rights issue, such as the basic preservation of hunters’ rights to bear arms, but I seldom hear fellow hunters make this point.
I’m going to assume he meant to say “assault weapons” as assault rifles are heavily regulated i this country but alas he believes supporting the right to own military pattern semi-automatic rifles and an ability to effectively defend yourself are extreme? Strange. Then he mentions the right to bear arms for hunting and strangely enough many people hunt with those guns labeled by the anti-gun crowd as “assault weapons.”
Of course he talks about how since there are conceal and carry laws the point of bringing firearms to rallies meaningless. This isn’t the point of what these people are doing, they are raising awareness of our eroding second amendment rights in general. It’s not only about concealed carry laws but all gun laws in general. More to the point it’s about abolishing gun control laws and restoring the true meaning to the second amendment.
This is the type of person we don’t need, a person who says they’re for the second amendment but only so far as it extends to hunting. These are the types of people that are OK with stomping on other peoples’ rights so long as the rights they enjoy are left alone. I have a name for these people, assholes.